


The Whole, Y'know, "Being Dead" Thing

by orphan_account



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice: The Musical
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Sad, Swearing, adam is a broken man, beetlejuice is trying his best, sad adam maitland
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 15:40:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21810571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It has been a couple years since the deaths of Adam and Barbara Maitland, and while everyone seems to be handling things just fine, one person has been struggling.
Relationships: Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice & Adam Maitland & Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice/Adam Maitland
Comments: 4
Kudos: 131





	The Whole, Y'know, "Being Dead" Thing

It had been years.

He couldn’t even remember how many, exactly. All he knew was that it had been  _ years _ .  _ Years _ since he had been able to leave the property,  _ years _ since he had been able to walk into town,  _ years _ since he got to go anywhere other than another area of the house.

He had been dead for years.

Adam felt like he was at a sort of breaking point. He couldn’t bear this death thing any longer. What made it worse was the fact that there was no escaping it. It’s not like life, where you could just commit suicide, or die some other way, no, _this_ _was_ death, it was final and he could not press rewind.

He would have to feel this way forever. For all eternity, he’d  _ have  _ to feel like this. While yes, he had good moments and good days, those moments were only temporary. Death was forever; it  _ is _ forever.

He had tried to get over the pain when he first died years ago, but all he ended up doing was bottling up how he really felt, and then when Lydia came around, he was too distracted with helping her to even think about the whole “being dead” thing.

Now, there weren’t any distractions.

Well, maybe except  _ him _ …

Occasionally, when Adam would just be minding his own business, Beetlejuice would show up out of nowhere. It’s not like anyone had summoned him, he kinda just seemed to linger there. After Lydia killed him, he somehow found a way to crawl his way back into the house. And since he died in that house after “marrying” Lydia, he was basically now stuck haunting the household as well.

Most of the time, his antics were at least tolerable. Lydia had surprisingly warmed up the most to him. She knew that what Beetlejuice did was gross, but ultimately, she understood why he did it. 

Besides, she liked the friendship dynamic they had going on before things got weird.

Delia and Charles managed to warm up to him _ just enough  _ to be able to tolerate him. Barbara had tried a bit harder with getting used to him. As long as Beetlejuice didn’t cause any big issues, she thought, it would be fine.

Adam still wasn’t used to it. 

He dreaded having the demon randomly pop out of nowhere. All he ever did was bother Adam about what he was doing, and maybe try flirting with him. Adam admitted to himself that it made him feel some sort of way, but he didn’t tell a soul. It didn’t change the fact that Beetlejuice never seemed to genuinely care about his feelings.

But one night, as Adam stayed up watching a movie, Barbara was heading to bed.

“Please don’t fall asleep on the couch again,” she said, “you haven’t come up here to sleep in our bed for  _ days _ .”

Adam sighed, “I know, I’ll try to get myself up there tonight.”

Barbara headed up the stairs and then, Adam was alone.

For a few minutes.

The TV began to lose its signal, and static filled the screen. At least, that’s what it seemed to be at first.

Adam stood up and walked towards the television. As he was about to try and mess with it, the static cleared.

“Hey there! You lookin’ to fix a broken marriage?” a voice on the TV announced.

Adam groaned when he heard the demon’s voice.

“Well, you’re in luck, since I can maybe help you fix just that! Just say Beetlejuice 3 times ‒  _ only three times _ ‒ and your marital issues will be fixed in a jiffy!”

Adam backed away from the TV and looked at the demon on screen. He was wearing a more professional-looking suit than usual, accompanied by slicked back hair.

“I don’t have a broken marriage, Beetlejuice,” he sighed in a quiet, tired voice.

Beetlejuice emerged from the screen, switching back into his usual get-up. “You have something that needs fixin’, I can tell ya that much,” he said while looking around the room, seeing all the pillows and blankets that Adam had on the couch.

Adam rolled his eyes. “Oh, like you even care to help me with anything.”

Beetlejuice quickly turned his head to Adam, wide-eyed.

“Do you… really need help with something?”

“Again, like I said, I know you don’t care. Hop back into that TV and go. I’m sick of dealing with you.”

Beetlejuice backed away a bit, looking away from Adam.

“Am… am I really that bad?”

Adam paused for a moment before taking a deep breath. “No, no, it’s… it’s not you, it’s all me. Just me and my stupid problems.”

“What problems?”

Adam paused again, contemplating what to say.

“I don’t like this,” he said, choking up slightly.

“A-Dog, what’s‒”

“ _ This _ !” he exclaimed, holding up his arms and gesturing all around his body. “I don’t like  _ this _ ! I don’t like…”

“... being dead…”

The more Adam explained, the more it pained him to speak. He felt as if he was on the verge of tears. His throat was tightening as his eyes were watering. He didn’t  _ want _ to cry in front of Beetlejuice of all people.

“Adam, no one likes being dead, but you get used to it. Hell, I’ve been dead for over 600 years!” He chuckled.

“That’s not… t-that’s not the point, Beetlejuice. I don’t want to be dead, I don’t want to  _ get used to  _ being dead, I just…”

Adam’s voice became more and more strained as he shivered slightly.

“I want to feel alive again, Beetlejuice. I-I… I want‒”

“Adam,” he interrupted. “Adam, you’re‒ … you’re crying. Are you‒”

“You don’t care about me, Beetlejuice,” he yelled at him. “You’ve never cared. All you ever did was come up here and try to get me into some weird antics!”

The demon approached him hesitantly, slightly reaching out his arms for an awkward hug. “A-Dog, relax, it’s okay. You don’t have to stress about it. You didn’t want to‒ “

“I know I didn’t want to, I-i just feel like I could’ve‒ “

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Beetlejuice said. “It doesn’t matter what you  _ could have _ done. It’s too late for that. You’re dead, Barb’s dead,  _ I’m _ dead. I’ve been dead for so long that I don’t even remember what it was like to be alive. Even back when you guys brought me back, it was only a minute. I  _ can’t _ remember what it felt like.”

Adam stopped crying for a brief moment. “Doesn’t it ever get to you, Beetlejuice?” he questioned. “Do you ever get upset over… being dead?”

“Adam,” he began, “of course it does. It gets to all of us. We’ll all have to deal with it eventually. Delia, Charles, and Lydia over there aren’t gonna be livin’ forever, y’know? They’ll feel just like you one day. They’ll feel like me, they’ll feel like Barb. Everyone will feel this way, Adam.”

“But Barbara’s already over it! She’s acting like it didn’t happen!” Adam refuted.

“She isn’t over it,” the demon replied, “she’s just dealing with it differently ‒ and arguably more healthily.  _ You _ kept this going on in your mind since you died and now it’s coming to bite you in the ass.”

Adam sighed and fell back onto the couch, taking off his glasses and placing them on the table beside him. He buried his face into his hands as Beetlejuice began to sit down as well.

He placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder. “I know it’s hard, babes. I hate it, you hate it, she hates it, we all hate it. But… you can’t keep stressing over something that you can’t control.”

Adam threw his arms down to his sides as he stared at the ceiling. Time felt as if it had stopped ticking as his glance shifted over to his right where Beetlejuice sat.

“How did you stop stressing over it?” he asked.

Beetlejuice sighed as he shook his head. “I didn’t stop stressing over it. You just have to keep it in check. Death can get a person stressed, but it shouldn’t be the one and only thing you think about.”

Adam scooted over closer to Beetlejuice, resting his head against the demon's. He was incredibly tired before, but the crying made him feel even more exhausted.

“I don’t want to be dead.”

“Neither do any of us, Adam.” Beetlejuice replied.

The two sat there in silence for a minute or so, staring at the static on the TV screen.

“We’re here for ya, A-Dog,” he said, breaking the silence. “I know you think I don’t care and all that, but I just didn’t know that you were… y’know.”

Adam sat there, still silent. His eyes were slowly closing as he drifted out of consciousness.

“I’ll let ya get some rest then,” the demon continued.

He snapped his fingers, bringing Adam to his bed where Barbara was already asleep.

With a sigh, he hopped back into the TV screen.


End file.
